Semiconductor structure with reduced junction leakage and method of fabrication thereof

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor structure is formed with a NFET device and a PFET device. The NFET device is formed by masking the PFET device regions of a substrate, forming a screen layer through epitaxial growth and in-situ doping, and forming an undoped channel layer on the screen layer through epitaxial growth. The PFET device is similarly formed by masking the NFET regions of a substrate, forming a screen layer through epitaxial growth and in-situ doping, and forming an undoped channel layer on the screen layer through epitaxial growth. An isolation region is formed between the NFET and the PFET device areas to remove any facets occurring during the separate epitaxial growth phases. By forming the screen layer through in-situ doped epitaxial growth, a reduction in junction leakage is achieved versus forming the screen layer using ion implantation.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/600,647 and now U.S. Pat. No. ______, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates in general to semiconductor devices and processing and more particularly to a semiconductor structure with reduced junction leakage and method of fabrication thereof.

BACKGROUND

Cost effective electronic manufacturing requires transistor structures and manufacturing processes that are reliable at nanometer scales and that do not require expensive or unavailable tools or process control conditions. While it is difficult to balance the many variables that control transistor electrical performance, finding suitable transistor dopant structures and manufacturing techniques that result in acceptable electrical characteristics such as junction leakage and threshold voltage levels are a key aspect of such commercially useful transistors.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and the advantages thereof, reference is now made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts, in which;

FIGS. 1A-1H illustrate a process flow for fabricating a semiconductor structure with reduced junction leakage;

FIGS. 2A and 2B compare the band to band generation rate at the channel to the drain junction between an implanted screen layer embodiment versus an in-situ grown screen layer embodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a dopant concentration level comparison between an implanted screen layer and an in-situ grown screen layer;

FIG. 4 illustrates differences in junction leakage between implanted and in-situ grown screen layers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1A-1H show a process flow for fabricating a semiconductor structure 100 with reduced junction leakage. The process will fabricate two field effect transistor (FET) devices, a NFET 102 and a PFET 104. The process begins in FIG. 1A where a substrate 106 is provided. Usually, substrate 106 is of a <100> or <111> silicon crystalline orientation. A mask 108 is formed on substrate 106 on the PFET 104 side of semiconductor structure 100. Mask 108 may be made of nitride, oxide, oxi-nitride, or other materials as desired to effectively block off the PFET 104 side of semiconductor structure 100. On the NFET 102 side of semiconductor structure 100, an optional P-well 110 may be implanted into substrate 106 using process conditions such as Boron implanted at an energy of about 60 keV to 120 keV and a dosage of about 1×10¹³ to 3×10¹³ atoms/cm².

In FIG. 1B, a first layer at a preselected dopant concentration, preferably a screen layer 112 of the opposite dopant concentration type as to be used for the source and drain regions, is formed on substrate 106. Screen layer 112 may be formed by growing an epitaxial layer on substrate 106 and performing in-situ doping during the epitaxial layer growth so that the resulting concentration of dopants for screen layer 112 as grown is preferably within a range of about 5×10¹⁸ to 5×10¹⁹ atoms per cm³ with a thickness of about 5 nm to 10 nm. Screen layer 112 establishes the depletion depth for NFET 102.

Example in-situ screen layer growth conditions include a 10 A dilute HF etch to reduce native oxide, an in-situ hydrogen bake at 700° C. to 850° C. for 45 to 75 sec and about 20 T, and a selective epitaxial growth process. Exemplary gases for the selective epitaxial growth process include H2/SiH12Cl2/HCl at about a 30/0.1/0.5 ratio, with dilute B2H6 and/or CH3SiH3 additive at about a 0.001 ratio sufficient to achieve the desired dopant concentration. The selective epitaxial growth may be performed at 700° C. to 850° C. and approximately 20 T.

For NFET 102, boron may be used as the dopant material in screen layer 112 to screen the well from activity in a second layer, preferably a channel layer 114. Maintaining a relatively abrupt or sharp dopant profile of the screen dopant helps control against junction leakage. Carbon is also preferably included as a non-electrically active additive to prevent unwanted diffusion of boron out of screen layer 112 during subsequent process steps. An example method to add the carbon is to turn on a dopant source 113 to introduce the carbon and boron dopant materials during epitaxial growth of screen layer 112.

In FIG. 1B, a second layer of a preselected dopant concentration, preferably channel layer 114 is formed on screen layer 112, preferably by epitaxial growth of an undoped intrinsic semiconductor material having a dopant concentration of no more than 5×10¹⁷ atoms per cm³ (that is, a silicon or other semiconductor material wherein electrically active species are not added to modify the conductivity characteristics; some impurities may be incidentally and unintentionally introduced into the crystalline lattice due to contamination from the process chamber; fabrication conditions are established such that channel layer 114 is maintained as essentially undoped at least beneath a later formed gate dielectric). Channel layer 114 may be formed by inserting substrate 106 into a separate epitaxial process chamber from that used for screen layer 112, or may remain in the same process chamber used for forming the doped screen layer 112 and grown by turning off dopant source 113 and using a gas mixture that does not include the dopants. Screen layer 112 and channel layer 114 are grown to preselected thicknesses based upon a target threshold voltage for NFET 102. In the epitaxial growth process, it may be desirable to delay turning on the in-situ doping and initially form an undoped epitaxial layer on substrate 106 and beneath screen layer 112 to allow for further adjustment of a location for screen layer 112 and to set up for a thinner channel layer 114. By being able to independently set a thickness for screen layer 112 and channel layer 114 along with the dopant concentration in screen layer 112, multiple threshold voltages that feature different depletion depths may be achieved with a similar device structure on a single semiconductor wafer. Though individually setting thicknesses for screen layer 112 and channel layer 114 may be desirable, a planar surface for semiconductor structure 100 may still be obtained as desired by maintaining the overall thickness for the channel layer and screen layer combination at a constant across all devices on substrate 106. In an alternative embodiment, channel layer 114 may be formed as a blanket epitaxial channel layer with the channel layer of PFET 104 later in the fabrication process.

An optional threshold voltage control layer (not shown) for NFET 102 may be formed between screen layer 112 and channel layer 114. The threshold voltage control layer may be formed by further epitaxial growth on screen layer 112 using the same dopant type but with different doping conditions so that the resulting dopant concentration is about 1/10th that of screen layer 112 or is about 1/10th higher than that of channel layer 114. Epi thickness for the threshold voltage control layer may be 5 nm to 10 nm in thickness. The in-situ doping conditions may be adjusted from the conditions for screen layer 112 to the conditions for the threshold voltage control layer during epitaxial growth by reducing the concentration of the dopant species gas to result in the desired dopant concentration in the layer. Epitaxial growth of screen layer 112 and the threshold voltage control layer may be continuously performed so as to avoid removing substrate 106 from the epitaxial growth process chamber. Alternatively, the threshold voltage control layer can be formed using ion implantation either directly into screen layer 112 so that the threshold voltage control layer is formed effectively at a top surface of screen layer 112, by ion implantation into an epitaxially grown layer, or, a threshold voltage control layer can be formed using ion implantation after channel layer 114 is formed preferably by using a high enough implant energy to target a location of dopants to be at or just above the top surface of screen layer 112. The threshold voltage control layer for NFET 102 is preferably added if screen layer 112 is not sufficient by itself to set the targeted threshold voltage for the device.

In FIG. 1C, mask 108 is removed to open the PFET 104 side of semiconductor structure 100 and a mask 118 is formed on substrate 106 on the NFET 102 side of semiconductor structure 100. Mask 118 may also be made of nitride, oxide, oxi-nitride, or other materials as desired to effectively block off the NFET 102 side of semiconductor structure 100. On the PFET 104 side of semiconductor structure 100, an optional N-well 120 may be implanted into substrate 106 using Arsenic or Phosphorus at an energy of about 100 keV to 200 keV with a dosage of 1×10¹³ to 3×10¹³ atoms/cm².

In FIG. 1D, a first layer of a preselected dopant concentration for the second FET, preferably a screen layer 122 of an opposite dopant concentration type as that used for source and drain regions, is formed on substrate 106. Screen layer 122 may be formed by growing an epitaxial layer on substrate 106 and performing in-situ doping during the epitaxial layer growth so that the resulting concentration of dopants for screen layer 122 is preferably within a range of about 5×10¹⁸ to 5×10¹⁹ atoms per cm³ with a thickness of about 5 nm to 10 nm. Screen layer 122 establishes a depletion depth for PFET 104.

Example in-situ screen layer growth conditions include a 10 A dilute HF etch to reduce native oxide, an in-situ hydrogen bake at 700° C. to 850° C. for 45 to 60 sec and about 20 T, and a selective epitaxial growth process. Exemplary gases for the selective epitaxial growth process include H2/SiH2Cl2/HCl at about a 30/0.1/0.5 ratio, with dilute AsH3 sufficient to achieve the desired dopant concentration. The selective epitaxial growth may be performed at 700° C. to 850° C. and approximately 20 T.

For PFET 104, phosphorous or arsenic may be used as the in-situ dopant material in screen layer 122 to screen the well from activity in a second layer, preferably a channel layer 124. Maintaining a relatively abrupt or sharp dopant profile of the screen dopant helps to control against junction leakage.

In FIG. 1D, a second layer of a preselected dopant concentration for the second FET, preferably channel layer 124 is formed on screen layer 122 preferably by epitaxial growth of an undoped intrinsic semiconductor material having a dopant concentration of no more than 5×10¹⁷ atoms per cm³ (that is a silicon or other semiconductor material wherein electrically active species are not added to modify the conductivity characteristics; some impurities may be incidentally and unintentionally introduced into the crystalline lattice due to contamination from the process chamber; fabrication conditions are established such that channel layer 124 is maintained as essentially undoped at least beneath a later formed gate dielectric). Channel layer 124 may be formed by inserting substrate 106 into a separate epitaxial process chamber from that used for screen layer 122, or may remain in the same process chamber used for forming the doped screen layer 122 and grown by turning off dopant source 113 and using a gas mixture that does not include the dopants. Screen layer 122 and channel layer 124 are grown to preselected thicknesses based upon a target threshold voltage for PFET 104. In the epitaxial growth process, it may be desirable to delay turning on the in-situ doping and initially form an undoped epitaxial layer on substrate 106 and beneath screen layer 122 to allow for further adjustment of a location for screen layer 122 and to set up for a thinner channel layer 124. By being able to independently set a thickness for screen layer 122 and channel layer 124 along with the dopant concentration in screen layer 122, variations in threshold voltages and depletion depth from one PFET device to another may be achieved on a single semiconductor wafer. Though individually setting thicknesses for screen layer 122 and channel layer 124 may be desirable, a planar surface for semiconductor structure 100 may still be achieved by maintaining the overall thickness for the channel layer and screen layer combination at a constant across all devices on substrate 106. In an alternative embodiment, channel layer 124 may be formed as a blanket channel layer with channel layer 114 of NFET 104 later in the fabrication process.

An optional threshold voltage control layer (not shown) may be formed between screen layer 122 and channel layer 124. Similar to NFET 102, the threshold voltage control layer for PFET 104 may be formed by further epitaxial growth on screen layer 122 using the same dopant type but with different doping conditions so that a resulting dopant concentration is about 1/10th that of screen layer 122 or is about 1/10th higher than that of channel layer 124 for a thickness of about 3 nm to 6 nm. Different doping materials may be used between screen layer 122 and the threshold voltage control layer. For example, arsenic may be used for screen layer 122 and phosphorous may be used for the threshold voltage control layer. The in-situ doping conditions may be adjusted from the conditions for screen layer 122 to the conditions for the threshold voltage control layer during epitaxial growth by reducing the concentration of the dopant species gas. Epitaxial growth of screen layer 122 and the threshold voltage control layer may be continuously performed so as to avoid removing substrate 106 from the epitaxial growth process chamber. Alternatively, the threshold voltage control layer can be formed using ion implantation either directly into screen layer 122 so that the threshold voltage control layer is formed effectively at the top surface of screen layer 122, by ion implantation into an epitaxially grown layer, or the threshold voltage control layer may be formed using ion implantation after channel 124 is formed preferably by using a high enough implant energy to target a location of dopants to be at or just above the top surface of screen layer 122. The threshold voltage control layer for PFET 104 is preferably added if screen layer 122 is not sufficient to set the targeted threshold voltage for the device.

In FIG. 1E, mask 118 is removed. Due to the positioning of masks 108 and 118 and the epitaxial growth conditions, facets 130 are usually formed in each layer of each device. Facets 130 form at the boundary of growth areas and masking dielectric areas such as the NFET 102 and PFET 104 areas where the growth area is adjacent to mask areas 118 and 108. Facet 130 formation can vary from one epitaxial growth process to another through selection of temperature, pressure, chemistry/partial pressure, and starting substrate orientation. Facets are undesirable as they may introduce additional unwanted variations to the device that adversely affect device operation. These facets can be eliminated by performing a shallow trench isolation process after the selective epitaxial growth. It is noted that, prior to shallow trench isolation, in an alternative embodiment if channel layers 114 and 124 have not been previously formed, an undoped blanket channel layer may be epitaxially grown on substrate 106 and screen layers 112 and 122 in order to establish channel layers 114 and 124 by way of an epitaxial layer that extends between the FETs.

FIG. 1F shows the formation of a trench 132 between NFET 102 and PFET 104. Trench 132 is aligned with the boundary between NFET 102 and PFET 104, and is formed by applying masks to protect NFET 102 and PFET 104 and etching into substrate 106. Then an etch process is performed to remove material that is wider than the interface where the faceted structures come together, resulting in a trench structure that slices through and eliminates the facets. As shown in FIG. 1G, trench 132 is then filled using dielectric material, usually silicon oxide deposited by chemical vapor deposition, to establish a physical and electrical isolation region 134 between NFET 102 and PFET 104. Gate stack 144 and 154 and source/drain formations 146 and 156 are then established to complete the transistor devices as shown in FIG. 1H. In this manner, a device is established with a screen layer setting a depletion depth underneath the gate stack 144 and 154 and a channel layer overlying the screen layer is maintained undoped in contact with the gate dielectric 148 and 158 with an optional threshold voltage control layer between the screen layer and the channel layer.

Advantages are obtained by forming screen layer 112 for NFET 102 by way of in-situ doped epitaxial growth as compared to ion implantation into substrate 106. FIG. 2A shows the band to band generation rate at the channel to drain junction for a dopant profile using an implanted screen layer. FIG. 2B shows the band to band generation rate at the channel to drain junction for a dopant profile using an in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112. The junction leakage, being a strong function of screen doping level and screen peak width, is reduced for the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112 compared to the implanted screen layer. In FIG. 2A, a larger area of band to band tunneling generation rate is shown for an implanted screen layer in comparison of the smaller area of band to band tunneling process generation in FIG. 2B for the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112. The more band to band tunneling generation rate there is, the more junction leakage is seen in a device.

The higher band to band tunneling process generation for the implanted screen layer is caused by a wider spread of the dopant peak as compared to an in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer. FIG. 3 shows a graph 300 with a dopant concentration level comparison between the implanted screen layer and the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112. As shown in graph 300, the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112 shows a narrower and lower doping peak as compared to the implanted screen layer, leading to the reduction in junction leakage. The concentration level of the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112 is higher and closer to the silicon surface of the semiconductor structure than that of the implanted screen layer for the same threshold voltage setting. The higher dopant concentration nearer the substrate surface for the in-situ doped epitaxially grown screen layer 112 is disadvantageous in one respect in that there may be a slight increase in random dopant fluctuation (RDF) induced threshold voltage mismatch (AVT) as compared to the implanted screen layer. However, the tighter dopant distribution having the shorter tail improves junction leakage control drastically.

FIG. 4 shows a graph 400 with differences in junction leakage between the implanted screen layer and the in-situ epitaxially grown screen layer 112. Graph lines 402 and 404 show the plots for the implanted screen layer. Graph lines 408 and 408 show the plots for an in-situ grown screen layer. Graph line 402 shows how the threshold voltage can be tuned by changing the dose for the screen implant while keeping the channel layer thickness constant. Graph line 404 shows how the threshold voltage can be tuned by changing the thickness of the channel layer while keeping the dose for the screen implant constant. Similarly, graph line 406 shows how the threshold voltage for NFET 102 can be tuned by changing the in-situ boron concentration at a first thickness for the channel layer. Graph line 408 shows how the threshold voltage for NFET 102 can be tuned by changing the in-situ boron concentration at a second thickness for the channel layer. There are two advantages provided by the in-situ epitaxially grown screen layer 112 over the implanted screen layer. First, the in-situ epitaxially grown screen layer 112 allows for a more flexible threshold voltage targeting range than the implanted screen layer. Second, the in-situ epitaxially grown screen layer 112 provides a greater than ten times reduction in junction, leakage as compared to the implanted screen layer. In addition, a thicker epitaxial channel layer may be used with an in-situ epitaxially grown screen layer 112 due to elimination of the implantation depth, relaxing the process constraints to grow a very thin epitaxial channel layer.

A reduction in junction leakage is achievable in a deeply depleted channel device by epitaxially growing a screen layer and in-situ doping of the screen layer during epitaxial growth. Any facets produced during epitaxial growth may be eliminated by forming an isolation region at a boundary of a NFET 102 and a PFET 104, preferably by cutting into substrate 106 and through a facet region by etching and filling a shallow trench. Threshold voltage control can be achieved by selecting a dopant concentration for the screen layer, including a threshold control layer on the screen layer, and setting a thickness for the channel layer and the screen layer.

From the foregoing, it may be appreciated by those of skill in the art that a need has arisen for a technique to fabricate a semiconductor structure with reduced junction leakage, threshold voltage controllability, and facetless physical properties in order to provide improved and consistent transistor operational performance. The above description discloses features that substantially eliminate or greatly reduce disadvantages and problems associated with previous transistor device fabrication and design. The present disclosure describes various technical advantages and features not present in previous transistor fabrication and design. Embodiments of the present disclosure may enjoy some, all, or none of these advantages. Other technical advantages may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the figures, description, and claims.

Although the present disclosure has been described in detail with reference to one or more particular embodiments, it should be understood that various other changes, substitutions, and alterations may be made hereto without departing from the scope of the appended claims. Although the present disclosure includes a description with reference to a specific ordering of processes, other process sequencing may be followed and other incidental process steps may be performed to achieve the end result discussed herein.

Numerous other changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications may be ascertained by those skilled in the art and it is intended that the present disclosure encompass all such changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications as falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Moreover, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited in any way by any statement in the specification that is not otherwise reflected in the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for forming a facet free field effect transistor structure using selective epitaxial deposition, comprising: providing a substrate; epitaxially growing, over distinct areas of the substrate, a plurality of first epitaxial screen layers for a plurality of field effect transistors, the respective first epitaxial screen layers having defined dopant concentrations and grown to preselected thicknesses; epitaxially growing, over distinct areas of the first epitaxial screen layers, a plurality of second epitaxial channel layers, the respective second epitaxial channel layers being undoped and grown to preselected thicknesses; wherein at least some of the epitaxially grown layers form facets that are eliminated during processing.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein epitaxially growing the first epitaxial screen layers for the field effect transistors further introduces dopant species into the selective epitaxial deposition process.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: forming a blanket epitaxial layer on the substrate.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: etching through a portion of the second epitaxial channel layers and the first epitaxial screen layers through to the substrate to eliminate the facets formed by the epitaxial growth of the second epitaxial channel layers.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: turning on a dopant source during epitaxial growth of the first epitaxial screen layer of at least one of a first field effect transistor and a second field effect transistor; turning off a dopant source during epitaxial growth of the second epitaxial channel layer of the at least one of the first and second field effect transistors.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein epitaxial growth is continuously performed for the first epitaxial screen layer and the second epitaxial channel layer of the first and second field effect transistors.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein a thickness of the first epitaxial screen layer and the second epitaxial channel layer of the first and second field effect transistors is determined by when the dopant source is turned off.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the thickness for the second epitaxial screen layer of the first field effect transistor is different than the thickness for the second epitaxial screen layer of the second field effect transistor.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming by epitaxial growth a threshold voltage control layer between the first epitaxial screen layer and the second epitaxial channel layer for at least one of a first field effect transistor and a second field effect transistor, the threshold voltage control layer having a dopant concentration less than a dopant concentration of the first epitaxial screen layer.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising: using a first doping condition during epitaxial growth of the first epitaxial screen layer for the at least one of the first and second field effect transistors; using a second doping condition during epitaxial growth of the threshold voltage control layer for the at least one of the first and second field effect transistors.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein epitaxial growth is continuously performed for the first epitaxial screen layer, the threshold voltage control layer, and the second epitaxial channel layer for the at least one of the first and second field effect transistors.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: forming a threshold voltage control layer for at least one of a first field effect transistor and a second field effect transistor, the threshold voltage control layer having a dopant concentration that is less than a dopant concentration of the first epitaxial screen layer for the at least one of the first and second field effect transistors, the threshold voltage control layer being formed by ion implantation.
 13. An intermediate die structure for a field effect transistor, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of areas temporarily protecting portions of the substrate from having deposited thereon a single crystal silicon material; a plurality of first epitaxial screen layers deposited on the substrate and defined between the plurality of areas, the respective first epitaxial screen layers having defined dopant concentrations and preselected thickness; and a plurality of second epitaxial channel layers, the respective second epitaxial channel layers having no facets, configured to be undoped, and to have preselected thicknesses, the plurality of second epitaxial channel layers being disposed on the plurality of first epitaxial screen layers.
 14. The structure of claim 13, wherein the first epitaxial screen layers have no implanted dopants.
 15. The structure of claim 13, wherein the respective second epitaxial channel layers have the same thickness.
 15. The structure of claim 13, further comprising: a blanket epitaxial layer positioned above the substrate.
 17. A facet free channel structure for a field effect transistor, comprising: a substrate; a plurality of first screen layers deposited on the substrate, the respective first screen layers having defined dopant concentrations and preselected thicknesses; and a plurality of second epitaxial channel layers, the respective second epitaxial channel layers having no facets, being substantially undoped, and having preselected thicknesses, the plurality of second epitaxial channel layers being selectively deposited on the plurality of first screen layers.
 18. The structure of claim 17, wherein the first screen layers have no implanted dopants.
 19. The structure of claim 17, wherein the respective second epitaxial channel layers have the same thickness.
 20. The structure of claim 17, wherein the first screen layers are part of a blanket epitaxial layer positioned above the substrate. 